


There Was A White Heart

by WonderTwinC



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 12:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/561208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin meets a young princess while waiting for his apprentice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Was A White Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what happened but I was at work and then I typed this up on my phone and... well that was that.

He meets her once, when she is young and bright, not quite the beauty he knows she will grow up to be but well on her way. He's waiting for his apprentice in the stone courtyard that houses one of her beloved apple trees. It's late, far past a child's bedtime, but Rumpelstiltskin finds two small, piercing eyes staring at him from around a stone corner. She doesn't hide when he notices her. Instead she steps out from around the pillar with such a curious expression, her eyes speaking in her silence as she braves the night in a well worn gown of silk.   
  
"Are you waiting for someone?" she is very polite for a child her age and she clasps her hands in front of her as she approaches, head tilted to the side. Her raven hair lays in a single braid over her shoulder, tied with care using a silver ribbon he recognizes so well.   
  
Rumpelstiltskin grins and nods, bowing with a flourish that causes the little girl to giggle. "Right you are, tiny princess," he raises his head to see her smiling, her small face open and expressive. She has well defining features for a child, lips red as blood and skin as white as snow, dark raven locks and eyes that shine, even on such a dark night.   
  
She is truly a princess befitting her name, Rumpelstiltskin muses as Snow White dips a curtsy for him, wielding her gown like a dress. A curious child as well, he surmises as she stares at him with not a bit of fear or loathing or hate. She will make a wonderful, benevolent queen someday he thinks, watching how freely she interacts with such a beast as himself. He crouches down, a hard enough feet in his leather breeches, until he is almost eye to eye with the child, “Isn’t it your bedtime, dearie?”  
  
Her nose wrinkles at the unfamiliar nickname and she hold out one of her hands, leaving it in the space between them, “I’m Snow,” her small brow furrows, “I don’t sleep very well, sometimes.” Her face wrinkles even more as she squares her shoulders, remembering her place as a princess, “And you are?”  
  
Rumpelstiltskin by passes her hand and taps her nose with his finger. It’s not often he interacts with children, much less smart, kind girls like Snow White and he plays for her, pitching his voice and teasing, “You may call me Rumplestiltskin, princess.”  
  
She laughs, small and quiet but full, hearty. She is well loved and it shows.  
  
“Snow, what on earth are you doing out here?" the voice is high and annoyed, agitated even as Regina comes out from the shadows, walking in a brisk pace toward her step daughter. She is dressed in finery herself, her black silk gown held in her hands as she approaches, eyebrows drawn together.   
  
For her part Snow looks appropriately chastised, her cheeks of white flushing until they match her lips without much effort. She ducks her head in apology and shuffles her feet, speaking soft and clear, "I’m sorry, Regina."   
  
Regina dismisses her gently, placing a hand on the top of the girl's head,"Go on to bed, I'll be there in a moment."   
  
The tiny princess nods and Rumpelstiltskin giggles, low and delighted when Snow bows to him before scurrying off, leaving them alone.   
  
He laughs then, high and twittering, mocking in it's sound as he eyes the monster of his creation. She raises one slender eyebrow, voice low and poisoned laced when she engages him, as impatient as always, "Well?"  
  
Rumpelstiltskin hums before reaching into thin air. He pulls his right hand back and out with it appears a heavy tome, old and battered and worn but no less rare and mystical. Already Regina is plotting her revenge against the small child she is to raise, but it matters not.   
  
He has seen the future of the tiny princess tonight and it warms him, just a little. Snow White is destined for a great existence, cursed or not, queen or runaway or even just a small child, she is that which endures.   
  
She is, indeed, the stuff of fairy tales.


End file.
